The front of pack nutrition panel was a great initiative to help people build a healthy diet.  However, so many different formats are now being used that these panels are unlikely to be helpful.

 

The original initiative by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA, March 2006) recommended a traffic light scheme to show whether a product is low (green), medium (amber) or high (red) for fat, saturates, sugar and salt. Some food companies then put this panel on their labels, but not always using the FSA format.   For example, some use a pie shape, some use the red/amber/green colours, but without an explanation that the colours mean high/medium/low.

 

Almost a year later (Jan 2007), a group of food companies decided on a different initiative. This shows how much energy (calories), sugar, fat, saturates and salt one serving of the product provides. It also gives the percentages of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) for each of these. This initiative does not use the red/amber/green colour scheme and does not even place the items recommended by the FSA in the same order.  In addition, I remember attending a lecture given by a Trading Standards Officer where he said “Only 10% of people know what 10% means!”

 

The FSA are now recommending a modified panel. This shows the amount of fat, saturates sugar and salt per serving, as before, including a footer to show red=high, amber=medium, green=low. This new panel also shows GDAs as absolute values, rather than as percentages.

 

The aim of putting a nutrition panel on front of pack is to help people build a healthy diet. However, it is unlikely to do this if there are so many formats that people just become more confused.  Even with four items, it is unlikely that busy shoppers will able to decide fast enough, at point of purchase, which of three or four products is best. For example, if one is red for fat, but amber for saturates and one is amber for fat but red for saturates, which is best? What if one is red for salt and green for fat, but another is green for salt but red for fat, which is best?

 

Furthermore, given the increasing prevalence of obesity in the population, it is surprising that the FSA panel does not include energy (calories).

 

Please could somebody lock relevant people from the FSA, food industry, consumer representatives, food legislation experts, trading standards and a lawyer in a room. Don’t let them out until they have agreed a standard format and signed a contract to this effect, drawn up by a lawyer.   Organisations displaying the nutrition panel on front of pack must then display the panel in the EXACT format agreed. Any organisation displaying a front of pack nutrition panel but failing to use the EXACT format should be prosecuted.